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My February no sugar month in review.

I decided to challenge myself to a full month, the month of February with no takeout, no added sugar and no sugary drinks. I am already a vegetarian so this added to my restrictions food wise. My usual is to get a caramel iced coffee five days a week from McDonald’s, I don’t make iced coffee at home and have Pizza Hut two times a month and take out Chinese one or two times a month. I cook at home for myself the rest of the month. I am limited on what I can eat takeout wise as I don’t eat meat. The first week I will admit as I detoxed I felt weak and tired a lot but stuck with my healthy homemade meals. Second week I still craved my iced coffee, almost daily habits are hard to break. Third week I feel more mental clarity and inflammation is gone. Sometimes my arms and legs would hurt because sugar causes inflammation in our bodies. Fourth week I feel amazing without sugar or caffeine and I’m able to get out of bed not achy and full of pep. I’ve been walking every day and when you feel good and energetic it goes without saying your mood improves and your mental capabilities are stronger as well which allows you to problem solve better as well. My only complaint is going through menopause messes with your hormones sometimes and because of it I didn’t lose as much weight as I would have liked last month on my whole Feb no sugar diet. I lost five pounds and my husband lost 10. Why can they seem to lose weight faster than we do. Today I had a cheat day and will go back to my no sugar diet tomorrow again for the rest of the month. I am 54 and this was taken today.

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By deanne01

I am an avid reader and reviewer. I am open for review requests please contact me at Cnnamongirl at aol dot com. I work with big name publishers and indie publishers alike. I am on launch and street teams and have MANY NetGalley and GoodReads reviews up. I love all animals and I am a vegetarian. Thank you for joining me here.

24 replies on “My February no sugar month in review.”

Youā€™re a beautiful woman! And you definitely look younger than your age. I wish I was disciplined enough to do a sugar detox but I suck at restricting myself. Do you ever feel like cheating?

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Thank you for your kind words. I do enjoy feeling more energetic and having less inflammation and this is what keeps me from wanting to cheat. I easily put on two or three pounds of water weigh the next day of I eat foods that are delicious but not good for me. I cheat once a month to satisfy my cravings but really it doesn’t even taste as good anymore.

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First of all, you look great! I’m so impressed by your perseverance. I know I would have caved.

Second, you are smart to do this now. I’m 73; I cannot lose weight no matter how hard I try. (But yes, my husband cuts afternoon snacks and drops pounds like a dog shaking off rain). The older you get, the harder it gets.

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Thank you, Lynn. I still have periods, so I know that is holding me back from losing weight like I’d like. Those crazy hormones. Cutting out the sugar is helping in more ways than one though. More energy, less inflammation and my clothes are looser. I know you can do it too. It’s so unfair they can lose weight so easily; we just have to look at cake and imagine eating it and I’m up three pounds. I’m determined to keep going through with it and yes that’s why I’m doing it now because I have heard weight loves to stick around as you age. You look amazing yourself. I would have thought you were a good ten years younger.

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Thank you, Lynn. I still have periods, so I know that is holding me back from losing weight like I’d like. Those crazy hormones. Cutting out the sugar is helping in more ways than one though. More energy, less inflammation and my clothes are looser. I know you can do it too. It’s so unfair they can lose weight so easily; we just have to look at cake and imagine eating it and I’m up three pounds. I’m determined to keep going through with it and yes that’s why I’m doing it now because I have heard weight loves to stick around as you age. You look amazing yourself. I would have thought you were a good ten years younger.

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You look fantastic, Deanne! And good on you for taking control. I mostly cut out sugar a little over a year ago (I cheat one day per week). I am 69 (70 in May) and until then had been steadily piling on weight no matter how much I exercised. Since then, I have managed to lose 1 kilo per month and I feel much better in and about myself.

Please don’t compare your husband’s weight loss with your own. We all have different metabolisms and are paddling our own boats. Go on your own weight loss journey and take pride in your achievements. šŸ’

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Thank you, Sandy. It is hard to not compare as it seems so unfair. I am proud of my accomplishments, and I am really happy to have a lot less inflammation. Honestly after doing no sugar for over a month now I’m not craving it as I thought I would. Sounds like you’re doing amazing with your no sugar eating as well. Sugar is such a big culprit. I knew it wasn’t good for me but I didn’t realize the impact it had on me not being able to lose until I cut it out. I’m so glad you’re feeling better without. As they say less is more and it’s so true.

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You look amazing! I am not sure I could do the no sugar and no caffeine. But my diet now with the diverticulosis is very low on meat and sweets and high on rice, cottage cheese, veggies and fruit.

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Thank you so much, Noelle. I love the fact that the inflammation is gone. March 1st was my cheat day, and I’ll admit that while the pizza was good it didn’t taste as good as I thought it would. I love cottage cheese myself but no one else in my household will touch it. When I had my caffeine on March first like the pizza my iced coffee didn’t taste as good as I thought it would. I craved it all month then when I had it I realized it wasn’t a big deal. Your diet sounds delicious

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That’s great. I know weight loss is not easy no matter what we seem to do. That’s what I used to eat before I stopped eating meat, chicken and fish. I never touched red meat, even back then burgers and steaks didn’t sound good. I do enjoy plant-based burgers made out of beans though, now they’re good. Oh, I like eggs too, I use them for a nice protein source. Yesterday just paid 8.69 for an 18 pack. I think I’m going to buy insurance for these eggs šŸ™‚

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Eggs are delicious. My husband was eating turkey burgers but not recently. He said they have been pretty tasteless recently so he’s giving them a break for now. He doesn’t eat burgers either. He’ll eat tuna and some other fish though and chicken.

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very nice and you’re looking good! yeah, menopause is miserable. so, sugar–does that include honey or agave? hubby makes me a mocha every morning. when i tried to stop any coffee years ago, experienced lots of headaches even aspirin wouldn’t touch. still–i love those mochas–using only a little honey.

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Thank you. You know I have a bottle of honey in my cabinet for my tea over a year ago and it just sits there as I drink my tea plain. So no honey or agave for me. I had an iced coffee on March first, my once-a-month cheat day and it tasted way too sugary, and I just didn’t enjoy it like I thought I would. I don’t get headaches from lack of caffeine but my daughter who drinks iced coffee and mountain dew does. I had a headache for 3 weeks straight several years ago, continuously. Dr couldn’t figure out what caused it, took a medicine for 10 days, did nothing then they gave me a shot, it did nothing they finally gave me another medicine and it worked. they told me, yeah, the first medicine we gave you usually doesn’t work but we are required to give it to you first anyways. I still have periods every month but last month was extremely heavy and sometimes I have it more than once a month, not heavy though. So it’s on the way.

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HA! yes, i used to joke i was going to have to buy feminine protection out of my soc security checks. i used to have those heavy ones, too, and they never were on a set pattern. the hot flashes were horrible and i still do have a few now and then–not nearly as bad nor as often. the freedom w/o is nice but then there are other issues. it doesn’t end, just changes.

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